First post. I am entirely new to the hobby of "cannons" and what I have built is a "Semi truck tire bead seater." However, I will NOT be trying to write it off as a business expense on taxes.

I have a few questions because I am disappointed with the performance.

This air storage is all 4" schedule 40 PVC and fittings rated at 240 PSI, approximately 27-29 linear feet.

The sprinkler valves are two 2" unknown brand (bought off ebay predrilled and pre tapped 1/8" for this purpose.)

The barrel is a 10' 3' diameter screw in barrel suitable for shooting wine bottles of waterBut it is also quite suitable for seating semi truck tires on the rims which is the *only* reason I built it.

Testing it this weekend , it shot a wine bottle full of water approximately 250 yards at 45 degrees of elevation. It also shot snowballs and coke cans shorter distances at same 150 psi 45 degree elevation.

This was fairly dramatic but not quite what I was hoping. Sometimes semi tires are very stubborn to seat and I need the performance. The website will not allow me to upload a .mov of firing.

Questions:1. What brand of sprinkler valves are these?2. How should I make the air dump hole bigger? i.e., enlarge and retap the current one slightly larger? Or plug this 1/8" and is it ok to remove center flow control (there is a metal rod for the spring inside too that would have to come out too) and tap in a 5/8 or 3/4?3.If I can drill the larger 5/8 or 3/4 holes in the center, is it worthwhile performance wise to mount a slave sprinkler valve on top of each? Or is the benefit negligible?4. Is the length of my hose going to splitter and air trigger affecting how fast my valves release?5. What can I do to get greater performance?6.should I be concerned about the recoil on the 3" t on the back of the barrel launching heavier ammunition like wine bottles?

Thanks for your information on this website, I feel like I got a running start.

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Last edited by Cooter_E_Lee on Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cooter_E_Lee wrote:First post. I am entirely new to the hobby of "cannons" and what I have built is a "Semi truck tire bead seater." However, I will NOT be trying to write it off as a business expense on taxes.

I have a few questions because I am disappointed with the performance.

This air storage is all 4" schedule 40 PVC and fittings rated at 240 PSI, approximately 27-29 linear feet.

The sprinkler valves are two 2" unknown brand (bought off ebay predrilled and pre tapped 1/8" for this purpose.)

The barrel is a 10' 3' diameter screw in barrel suitable for shooting wine bottles full of gasoline with a sparkler taped on or soda cans with wadding behind them, or 3" hollow metal spheres (available for $5.88 on king metals website) filled with black powder and drilled with hole for insertion of shotgun primers with .177 BBs superglued to them and a half sphere also available to go in front of that. Then a metal shaft with fins welded to back to insure forward impact against primers...

But it is also quite suitable for seating semi truck tires on the rims which is the *only* reason I built it.

Testing it this weekend , it shot a wine bottle full of water approximately 250 yards at 45 degrees of elevation. It also shot snowballs and coke cans shorter distances at same 150 psi 45 degree elevation.

This was fairly dramatic but not quite what I was hoping. Sometimes semi tires are very stubborn to seat and I need the performance. The website will not allow me to upload a .mov of firing.

Questions:1. What brand of sprinkler valves are these?2. How should I make the air dump hole bigger? i.e., enlarge and retap the current one slightly larger? Or plug this 1/8" and is it ok to remove center flow control (there is a metal rod for the spring inside too that would have to come out too) and tap in a 5/8 or 3/4?3.If I can drill the larger 5/8 or 3/4 holes in the center, is it worthwhile performance wise to mount a slave sprinkler valve on top of each? Or is the benefit negligible?4. Is the length of my hose going to splitter and air trigger affecting how fast my valves release?5. What can I do to get greater performance?6.should I be concerned about the recoil on the 3" t on the back of the barrel launching heavier ammunition like wine bottles?

Thanks for your information on this website, I feel like I got a running start.

You may upload a video on youtube and post a link with the "post a replay" or "edit post" using the "youtube" button right up. Make sure you paste the "share" link. And this way you "uploaded" a video.............